Month: September 2015

So, my story. It’s lengthy, but bare with me because I hope that I can encourage you!

I didn’t grow up fit. at all. I LOVED the SUGAR. I LOVED the SALT. In fact even more than sugar and salt…mix them together and give me some SWEET AND SALTY! YUM.

And I have pretty much always dieted. Diet, working out, gaining weight. That’s my life.

It wasn’t until my children were born and I’m going to be honest, my marriage was going through some really hard times, that I really really got out of control. We would fight and I would eat. I would literally eat chocolate cake when we were fighting and think to myself, “You’re so mean, you’re going to have a FAT wife!!”

Well, it wasn’t until I was well over 200 pounds, and a size 18 that I realized I wasn’t hurting anyone but myself.

I just woke up one morning the week of Halloween. I don’t know why that sticks with me it just does. Probably because that was the year I stopped eating the kids candy. I woke up and just said, “I’m done. No more.” I was uncomfortable in my skin, I was miserable all the time, I was grumpy, and I was just done.

I really knew nothing about nutrition so I went to the library and checked out a few books. The book that really grabbed my attention the most was, “The Southbeach Diet” not because I wanted to lose the weight fast, but, while reading though the book, it really felt healthy.

So I started the plan and I followed it meticulously. I learned about whole grains, eating veggies, lean meats, etc. I learned about portion control. I did not steer from the plan AT ALL. (OK, on Christmas Eve I ate one sugar cookie. )

I also started walking. My kids were little, probably around 2 and 3. I would put them down for a nap or maybe to watch a cartoon and I would get on the super old treadmill that had been given to me. The first walk I did I can remember very vividly. It was a struggle for me to walk 30 minutes on that treadmill. But I did it. and I did it every day. I also got a couple of workout videos, and they were HARD. I would stop the video in the middle because I just couldn’t finish it. I remember the day that I made it all the way through!!

In that year I got down to 140. I lost over 60 lbs. For the first time in my life I was less than what I had lied about on my drivers license. I was wearing the kind of clothes I had always wanted.

Flash forward a few years, I did gain back 20 lbs, but never more than that. Ultimately, I settled in at 150, which felt really good.

I started to run using an app on my phone and I fell in love.

I ran a half marathon and a marathon…

and then I got pregnant with baby #3. My sweet precious boy.

People. I gained 70 lbs my pregnancy. When I first got pregnant I said to myself, “This will be my healthiest pregnancy EVER” boy was I wrong. My body wanted nothing to do with anything healthy. It was like I was possessed. It was terrible.

I ran the first couple of months of my pregnancy and then it started hurting.

Needless to say, I was very very discouraged and mad at myself.

The day that Jack came home I just felt like I had to get right to it. Obviously I couldn’t workout right away. But I did focus on my food, and I started walking slowly after he was 4 weeks. The second I got clearance at my 6 week check up I was all in.

So, Jack is 5 months old now, and I’ve lost 50 lbs! YAY! Here I am at my last 20 and I am going to need some help! So, fit friday will be my time to share tips, tricks, successes and failures! I think we’ll have a lot of fun!

Happy Friday! This week has been a great one for me! Super productive, but also, restful, which was greatly needed! I’ve been thinking a lot about the new month, and making my time at home purposeful and intentional. Then I realized,

This is the first year I have been at home full time since Hayden was 4!

Wow. Ok, she’s going to be 11.

Anyway, with that being said. When I was at home before I didn’t really take advantage of the opportunity. I was very unmotivated, lazy, I’ll just say it, I watched a lot of TV.

So, I want to make sure that this time is intentional, and even though I am a completely DIFFERENT person than I was 6 years ago, I don’t want old habits to slip in

So something I have been doing for the last year since I started working from home has been to make S.M.A.R.T. Goals. Not just setting a goal, making it SMART! If you’ve never heard about S.M.A.R.T. goals there’s tons of great info on google, here’s some of my favorite links:

lose 8 lbs by tracking my food on MFP, working out 3 times a week to a video and running 5 days a week

make a cleaning schedule, look on pinterest for a printable cleaning schedule with daily, weekly and monthly tasks. Put this on the fridge and add each days items to a daily to do list so that I can check them off and feel happy doing it!

read my bible every day, wake up everyday and open my bible before my phone. Make my time with God an absolute priority over everything else. Don’t let that time become something that is easily lost. Also add this item to my daily to do list which is very motivating for me.

And there you have it!

I also make S.M.A.R.T. goals for my business. you should check out my dream board! Making that dream board and looking at it every day also helps me to stay on track with my goals! VERY MOTIVATING to see those dreams right in your FACE!!!

What are your goals for September? How are you going to turn them in to S.M.A.R.T goals?

Besides the most life-saving habit of meal planning that I have developed, I also love to prepare easy breakfast options for the kids to grab before school. This way they get something hot and delicious, but they also get something fast.

Yes, there are mornings that we eat cereal. For one, they just love cereal. Also, I am not a super human. There are mornings when I am frazzled and I need them to just get themselves fed.

Ever since I went blueberry picking here in our little town of Laclede, Idaho, I have been having so much fun making muffins to store in the freezer. Oh, who am I kidding!? Every batch I make with the intention of freezing is eaten within 2 days. They are yummy. Ideally, I would love to have a freezer full of homemade muffins, cookies, etc. for the kids, but I think just spending an hour on a Saturday morning making something healthy for the school week is also awesome.

This morning I tried something different. I took a standard muffin recipe. SUPER standard. Like, your classic Better Homes and Gardens muffin recipe. I added a bunch of cinnamon and 8 drops of my delicious YL orange essential oil. Topped the muffins with a streusel topping and felt pretty proud of my creativity!